I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to powered vehicles and, more particularly, to a low cost, two wheeled, electrically powered vehicle shaped to resemble a piece of luggage.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, numerous two wheeled vehicles, such as motorcycles, scooters and the like have been known and examples of such known vehicles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,910,130, 2,577,951, 3,079,172, 3,314,494, 3,354,976, 3,483,937, 3,554,311, 3,605,929, and 3,710,883. While many of the vehicles disclosed in the aforementioned examples of prior art structures have achieved compactness of design, the vehicles in many instances must be of the type that permits a folding of the various components, or the vehicle must be completely dissassembled in order to be transported. In such arrangements, generally, the wheels and steering columns of the vehicles are disassembled and stored in a suitable compartment for transportation.
In almost all situations, the motorized vehicle is so designed that the vehicle cannot physically be carried and/or will not be permitted into a building or room for storage; such aforementioned vehicles must be stored in a parking lot or similar type of facility.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a powered vehicle that is capable of transporting at least one adult person on urban streets with the vehicle being so designed that it is completely contained within a frame that resembles, in appearance, a piece of luggage. It is also desirable to design such a powered vehicle that is light enough and simple enough in its construction that an adult may simply carry the same or roll it on one or both of its wheels when it is in an inoperative, immobile condition.
Such a feature would permit the use of a so-designed vehicle to transport an adult, while at the same time, permit the user to take the vehicle into a building or room for storage and, thus, eliminate the aforementioned parking problems associated with the prior art vehicles.